1957 Map of Pound

About this map

Pound is the primary settlement on this late-1950s map of Wise and Dickenson Counties, situated along the North Fork Pound River and the Chesapeake and Ohio railroad. The landscape is defined by the steep, wooded slopes of Bold Camp Mountain and Indian Mountain, with narrow hollows housing a dense network of family cemeteries and small rural institutions. Numerous strip mines and the Clinchfield-Moss Mines indicate the intense coal industry of the era, which operated alongside established communities centered on places like Skeen Union Church and Harmony Chapel. Large portions of the terrain fall within the Jefferson National Forest, where the Tennessee Valley Divide marks the high ridges above the Cranes Nest River. The distribution of Boggs Sch and Collins Sch suggests a dispersed rural population reliant on the winding roads and mountain gaps such as Bean Gap for travel.